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Breath of the Spirit

Pastoral, Liturgical, Teaching, and Social Justice Moments brought to you by www.DignityUSA.org.

Breath of the Spirit is DignityUSA’s electronic spiritual and liturgical resource for our members and potential members. Nothing can replace your chapter or other faith community, but we hope you will find further support here for integrating your spirituality with your sexuality and all the strands of your life.

We welcome relevant homilies, inspirational writings, social justice opportunities, or theological articles from other sources also — particularly from wise women and men who can help us grow as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) and allied Catholic/Christians. You may volunteer to help with this program or send your comments by e-mailing info@DignityUSA.org ATTN: Breath of the Spirit.

We can identify with Jesus' first disciples in today's gospel pericope. Who hasn't experienced and treasured a moment of discovery in their lives - something both surprising and life-changing? In this case, the three men discover that the man they'd know only as a carpenter, a fellow disciple of... more

During a recent inter-faith dialogue, someone asked me to name some good things I found in the Catholic Church. I had no difficulty giving him a list of those attributes. But his questioning me on that topic wasn’t a surprise. Addressing his unasked question, I reminded him that as a student... more

We have no one picture of Mary in our gospels. Each evangelist uniquely uses the mother of Jesus in a way which helps express his theology. Just as our gospels are not biographies of Jesus, neither are they biographies of Mary.

Those who actually wrote and originally passed on our Christian Scriptures would have a difficult time understanding why we modern followers of Jesus get so excited about Christmas. They couldn’t appreciate how something they thought peripheral to their faith plays such a central role in ours.

Throughout the movie Field of Dreams, the Kevin Costner character tries to follow the command of the voice he hears telling him, “Build it and he will come.” He eventually figures out that the “it” is a ball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield; he presumes the “he” is his deceased father’s... more

I frequently remind my students that the “call narratives” are usually the last part of a prophetic book to take shape. Only toward the end of their ministry are prophets finally able to surface what God was calling them to do. But since these narratives are frequently placed at the beginning of... more

No commentator can ever do justice to the message Deutero-Isaiah delivers in today’s first reading. They’re the first words of someone who eventually changed our faith. His proclamation has resonated in the minds and hearts of people of faith for over 2,500 years. Even mark, the first Christian... more

Though each of today’s sacred authors speak about a future visit from either God or the risen Jesus, their goal isn’t as much to prepare us for the future as it is to help us reflect on how we’re living the present.

Though it never made the American Film Institute’s recent list of the 100 best movie quotes, Mel Brooks’ remark in The History of the World – Part 1 – “It’s good to be the king!” – seems to fit snugly into today’s feast.
But, it also creates a huge problem. One of the misunderstandings which... more

We can’t be conscious of everything that happens in our life. Anyone who actually tried to do so would quickly go insane. We must experience certain things without reflecting on them or even noticing that they’ve taken place. If, for instance, we tried to be conscious of every car we encounter on... more

A change which affects our daily routine is rarely easy to incorporate into our lives. A change which affects our faith brings an even deeper dimension of difficulty.
I was ordained a priest on Dec. 16, 1964, so I've never functioned without the changes and reforms of Vatican II being an... more